Hoarding

Okay, I was watching the A&E show "Hoarders" this morning and I find it very frustrating. It makes me want to go through my possessions and throw things away. The doctors and specialists who deal with these hoarders are so patient with them, but for the most part, it seems as if they accomplish very little. The hoarders have total control over the people who are there to help them, and they have to go through everything and touch everything and make a decision about each little object. Each thing they keep is so infused with meaning to them. Its like they are addicted to finding meaning in inanimate objects. I would be a terrible person to work with hoarders because I would end up screaming at them to get rid of stuff and throwing things away behind their backs. I know I always feel good if I have lots of stuff to take to Goodwill. But then, I am such a giver...hehehe.

I wonder, if you have a hot tub full of computer equipment, and more computer equipment in your shelves, stuff that you have not used in years and years...does that make you a hoarder? Hmmmm.

I am still working on crack filling and I did end up working on those rooms where I don't know if I still have the paint for them or not. I mean, they need to be done, why put it off? Every little bit helps, and it looks better than cracks.

Our JoAnn fabrics is closing which is sad and very inconvenient for someone with 10 dresses to sew. I remember when there were two fabric shops in town and now there will be basically none. Hobby Lobby has fabric but it is junk and I wouldn't buy it. It is like the W-Mart of fabric stores.
I may go to JoAnns to get some muslin today to work on Kari's dummy bodice. We are thinking about changing to the waistline so must try that on some other fabric first.

Make it work.

Crack Cover-up

I'm working on covering up settling cracks this week. I finally went to the hardware store and bought drywall mud so I can deal with these cracks. Right now I'm working on two of them, and I could work on a couple more, but I need to find out if I have paint leftover for those two rooms, because if I do not, I will also need to paint rooms when I'm done. I really do not want to paint these rooms right now. In other news, I hurt my back doing absolutely nothing yesterday. I just stood up and it hurt. So I am trying to be careful with it because I do not like my back to hurt. (unlike most people who actually want an aching back!!)

This week is speeeeding by! I am going to Haslingers during my lunch break to hopefully buy many Macintosh apples, even though it is early for them yet. I may also have to buy pears and other things...I tend to carried away at fruit stands...I may end up buying gourds to decorate the mantel too. And white pumpkins. And...and..

Bridesmaid material should be in tomorrow. Then I can sew 4 bridesmaids. I am going to have to lock Tiney out of the room when I cut out dresses...she was absolutely insane when I did the last dress for Lilly...she would jump on the pattern and I would yell at her and swoosh her away and she would be back a minute later to do it again. Its like she couldn't stop herself. Apparently pattern paper is irresistible to cats.

If you tear apart what you did, did you accomplish something?

For a couple days now, I've worked on a "dummy dress" for jr. bridesmaids. I was at the point of almost done when I had the guinea pig try it on and we were both pretty underwhelmed. The skirt does not twirl, which we pretty much knew, but the top was so badly fitted. I think a lot of blame can go to the material, but it seems like a lot of work for what should be a simple pattern. So this morning I picked out a lot of stitches and will attempt to fit it better before I really pass judgement on it. I will not reattach the skirt I think. A lighter material, a fuller skirt maybe...otherwise its been a big waste of time. Other things I got done were a coat of primer on a Noah's ark that I started for someone several years ago, and was almost done when I found out they didn't like green. Sigh. This is one I would seriously like out of my house.
Right now I am just feeling disgruntled and dissapointed.

In which she got out her trusty angle brush....

Long overdue paint chores the past couple o' days. Yesterday was touching up the bathroom where the grout had spilled over a bit from the tile. It looked noticeably better this morning. Tonite I touched up the green paint in Lil's and our room. Lil's has been in need of paint for an incredibly long time...so long that I've forgotten how long its been. When did I hang that poster and the mirror? Pitiful.

I am hoping this whole organization/accomplishment thingy spills over into work too. Its always less stressful to have programs finished before you need them. It would actually be awesome to have Summer Reading Program finished in record time this year. I've gotta think underwater thoughts...Pirates, fish, swimming.

Wait, this blog is not about work! Its about home and the need to get things done around here too. Bad blogger! Bad blogger! Must think about things that need to be done at home. .....mmmmyawwwwwnnnn...so sleepy.

This used to be the last day you could wear white...

I have to say that I love a long holiday weekend. Especially a holiday weekend like Labor Day in which I don't have to send cards or bake. Yesterday my accomplishment was cleaning the kitchen, but not in the ordinary way. This was a unscrewing the crumb-catcher on the toaster and emptying it out and washing it kind of cleaning...the kind I do all too rarely nowadays.

Today I did not labor too much. My accomplishment was spraying Killz over the spot in the family room where there was a water stain. We fixed the source of the roof leak many months ago by-the-way. I was going to patch a crack in a wall, but unfortunately, the drywall mud was left open slightly and was all dried up. I was relieved to think of that stain, as I just didn't feel like starting a sewing project at this hour.

One good thing that came out of cleaning yesterday was finding orthodontia reimbursement checks for Lil's braces. Who knew? Obviously not me, as one had expired and now needs to be re-issued.

This will be my last quiet week before storytimes start....ahhh summer break, you were so brief and so sweet.

In which twirly skirts = happiness

Ahhhh...the long holiday weekend. Yesterday Kari and I went to look for fabric at Hancock Fabrics. It was a huge dissapointment. Hancock Fabrics used to have a really really nice selection of formal/bridal fabrics and they had doody. It made me sad. We went with plainer fabrics that I will embellish. I ordered a bunch of embroidery/bead embroidery books today for ideas. I am also thinking I would like to turn the downstairs guest bedroom into my sewing room at least for the time being. I would like a place where cats are not, and where others are not. I want the room as clean as possible, and where projects in mid-sew are not disturbed. I mowed the lawn yesterday, but I will not count that as my accomplishment. Instead, I will say that my accomplishment was taking down the shower curtain, soaking it in whitening chemicals, washing it, and hanging it back up. (mowing was easier)

Today my accomplishment was cutting out a test dress for the jr. attendants. Although this pattern resembles the bridesmaids more, it does not have a twirly skirt and I think little girls, and even tween girls need twirly skirts. I myself like a good twirly skirt from time to time...and a wedding is an occasion where one might like a twirly skirt. My test pattern will be the plain non twirly that the pattern comes with. Just to see how this pattern looks on the test subject. Will sew tomorrow I think.

Also, my bitch of the day is that if you are at the community center and you have been monopolizing a machine for awhile and you get up and walk away from it, you should not think that it will continue to be "your machine". It is fair game when you walk away. And to those of you who use two machines at once...doing a little here...and then a little there (not cleaning the equipment between reps-ugh!)...you are machine hogs! If you are there by yourself, this is okay, but when there are more folks around, and I am trying to get my workout in before I go to work, you need to limit yourself to one machine at a time. Or buy some equipment to put in your own home that you can hog as much as you want. Do you hear me annoying people? I am there, trying to keep my chi flowing, and pissing me off is causing chi blockage. Cut it out.

Rant over. But watch your step.

Straighten up

My accomplishment for the day was that I managed to not fall asleep during the new episode of Project Runway. No, not really. What I really did was to attach my old magnifying makeup mirror to the wall of the other upstairs bathroom. I could be slightly happier with this. The wall was hard to drill through and as a result, its not quite level. Which bugs me a bit. If I take it off to readjust it, it will also mean spackling and painting...not a pleasing thought. I really don't like off kilter though, so we will see. A day off of work tomorrow...thank goodness, today was a loooooong day and my feet hurt. G'nite.

My Nouveau-ish Look

Thank you Kari for the awesome template design! I really like the Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue accents...they really pop against the beige. Yeah, I have obviously been watching too much HGTV again. They are always commenting on colors that pop. Okay, I accomplished one thing today...I spray painted the doorbell cover. This one is fairly unsatisfying though, because even with two coats of spray paint, it is still the ugliest thing ever. A better accomplishment would be to break the doorbell cover so it had to be replaced. By the way, when I say doorbell cover, I don't mean the thing on the outside of the house that you press. The thing I spray-painted goes over the actual chimes. It is some 70s faux-Colonial thing, but it is not faux-ugly. It is real ugly.

Maybe my accomplishment of the day should be riding my bike over to the little vegetable stand to buy tomatoes and peppers. The tomatoes are tiny and sweet and all different varieties and colors...yellow, orange, red, and yum. They are so pretty I should take their picture and post it here. And then I will call Kari and whine until she helps me learn how to post photos. (Mom, its an intellligence test)

Happy Lovely Late Summer Everyone*



*the two of you who might read this

Honey do it yourself

Not too long ago, I decided to write a list of all the little jobs I had yet to finish around the house. The list grew longer and longer and I kept thinking of more and more things to add. When faced with an overwhelming list like that, my first instinct is to hide the list, or at the very least, ignore it. The thing is, those little jobs don't go away, just because you ignore them. They wait for you, and then you feel stress and guilt because you are not getting them done. And there's more and more....AAaaaaaa!!!!

My oldest daughter announced her engagement a couple weeks ago, and I'm very happy for her. I have committed to making most of the dresses, including hers, for the wedding. I also have the pleasure of helping to plan this joyous occasion. And I do want it to be joyous. I want to enjoy planning and helping her. So...I am going to have to get my act together. When you work full-time, its just so easy to come home and sit on the couch and watch tv, and before you know it, the day is over with and you didn't get anything done.

Every day I want to accomplish one thing. It can't be something I would do everyday...like making dinner...although it would definitely be an accomplishment for me to make dinner every day! I need to start chipping away at this list of things to do around the house. Some days it will be wedding-related things, some days it will be household repair thing, but as long as I am making progress...as long as I get one thing done!

So, okay, this is pretty pitiful that I have to resort to writing it down in order to get it done, but I have always been a list-maker, so this is just a glorified list to check off. And if it works, my life will be much less stressful.

I started yesterday. I pulled all the grass and weeds out of the side planting bed, something that has been bothering me every time I see it. It took over an hour and I ended up with two enormous piles of grass and weeds. This itself will generate a couple more jobs as I should also mulch it and plant some more flowers and shrubs. This area used to look a lot nicer than it does now. Some of the established plants need some major pruning too. See? More things to do. This is what having a house is. (not whining, its the truth)

My accomplishment today was that I caulked the trim around the closet door...a job I started this past winter and never finished. So there...two checks on the endless list.

Wish me luck.